5 expert tips for surviving the opening hours of sci-fi horror The Persistence, out tomorrow for PS VR

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Hi there everyone! Alex Barnes here, one of the designers over at Firesprite, and I’m here to help keep you alive during your time aboard playing The Persistence.

In case you missed our previous blog post, For those that don’t already know, The Persistence is a brutal VR sci-fi-stealth, horror, roguelike; coming exclusively to PS VR tomorrow, 24th July on PlayStation Store, with a physical release following the next day on 25th July.

You are Chief Security Officer Zimri Eder, one of the last surviving members of the crew, your job is to save The Persistence and yourself in the process. Saving your ship from being torn apart by a black hole is no small task. You are and you likely to will die… a lot… so, here’s a little insider knowledge information to help you out!

1. Upgrade your stuff

There’s a lot that the player can upgrade in The Persistence and, as the name suggests, all your upgrades and currency stay with you… you know… persistently… OK, I’ll stop now.

Your first priority should always be upgrading your health, so grab as many Stem Cells as you can and visit the DNA Sequencer – you’ll find it in Recovery each time you print a new clone.

Some of the trickier areas of the game can only be tackled with enough HP. This is particularly true of challenge rooms. Supply crate challenge rooms contain some of the best loot in the game and can help propel you to the higher levels.

Once you’ve upgraded your health once or twice, you should start looking at upgrading dark matter. This stat that allows you to teleport and use super-sense. If you play like I do, these will be used regularly through both combat and stealth to give you an edge over some of the harder enemies.

2. Lock and load

As soon as you are on deck, head to a Firearms Fabricator, and unlock the Needle. On the earlier decks the Needle is a great weapon to get used to the head-controlled aiming. All firearms give double damage for head shots, so try to stay cool under pressure when taking your shots.

Then you should move on to unlocking all the other weapons, try to experiment with them to find your favourites. You’ll also get yourself a Trophy once you’ve got them all!

At later levels you will find that some of the early game firearms just won’t cut it anymore, and you’ll have to transition into the more powerful experimental and melee weapons.

One of my favoured strategies is upgrading my melee damage stats, unlocking Joe Wilson (a clone with melee damage bonuses) and wading through enemies with a fully upgraded riot baton, which is basically the love child of a club and a taser!

3. Fight on your terms

The Persistence is tough and, in your roughly 8-hour playthrough, you will come up against some serious challenges. The trick is to take regular stock of your equipment and allow that to decide on how you handle encounters.

If you have limited resources, then start an area slowly with a stealthy approach. If you are well equipped you may want to focus on making your way to supply crates or heading straight to your objective. This is particularly important when it comes to utilising Armoury Fabricators, as they need to recharge after use, so choose weapons for your scenario wisely.

The important thing is to remain adaptable, spread the risk and try to unlock multiple weapons so that you can fight multiple threats in one fight.

4. Friends can be ‘helpful’

If you’re struggling (or lonely) you can enlist friends to give you a hand, via the companion app. Though you must try and find someone that can resist the temptation of making your game harder!

Good verbal communication with your Solex app partner is key, as they can help you find health packs when you are near death and drop weapons when you’re starting to run dry.

One of the best places to utilise your friend’s help is in the stealth phases of the game, ask your friend to tag enemies so that you can see them through the walls, or get them to drop distractors so they turn their backs to you, leaving them exposed for stem cell harvesting.

If you do ever suspect your friend of foul play, make your way to a Solex screen on the ship and upload a virus to freeze the app and give you some reprieve!

5. Optimise your playthroughs

Like I said before, you will die a lot. But this is your opportunity to come back stronger, optimising your next runs. Getting a Loot suit, and combining it with specialist clones, like Serena, will give you huge boosts to each loot drop, especially on lower decks.

A few optimised runs will give you enough resources for high level upgrades or to unlock Epic level schematics. If you have one, I recommend fabricating an Epic Forcefield, it will keep you alive when battling high level Weepers and Berserkers.

The last tip from me is that you can optimise your runs by finding deck modules. These will allow you to teleport straight from Recovery to the lower decks. They are tough to get, only being found in supply crates. You will see supply crates marked on the map, but each has a challenge you must complete before you can get them open!

If you follow this insider information, you’ll stand a great chance of surviving The Persistence! Remember, the game releases on PlayStation Store tomorrow, and at retailers from 25th July.

The Persistence was built with the DS4 in mind and we think this will be the best experience. We currently don’t support move/aim controllers, but we might look at this in future plans. We’re really keeping an ear out for feedback!